


Two Steps From Falling

by Yongjae37



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bad Ending, Enemies to Friends, F/M, M/M, Minor Acxa/Lotor (Voltron), Minor Character Death, Minor Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Pining, Pining Lotor, Poetry, Son of a Business Tycoon!Lotor, did I mention stilettos?, minor robin hood vibes, model!keith, soft angst, spy!Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 05:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13288326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yongjae37/pseuds/Yongjae37
Summary: To the onlooker, Keith’s gaze was askance, unfocused from the audience before him. Those murky blue-grey eyes trailed their way to Lotor, as if magnetized, wanting,challenging, before moving away. The man pivoted, and swung himself in the other direction, leaving Lotor and his audience speechless.Keith was a quick break in the churning tides of Lotor’s life. Someone to talk to, but never see again. Perhaps a face to play out in some wild fantasy but nothing more.Yet Lotor saw him, again and again.orAu in which Keith and Lotor are two idiots dancing around each other, playing a game of push and pull.





	Two Steps From Falling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RukaIsAFan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RukaIsAFan/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, Ruka <3
> 
> (beta-d by the Lovely Alex who's not a furry)

**Two Steps from Falling**

_It feels like_  
_I’m at the edge of a cliff_  
_And its only two steps_  
_Two steps_

 

He met Keith at one of his father’s many galas, an opportunity orchestrated by Keith’s superior. Lotor hadn’t known, not initially. He had allowed himself to slip, ever so briefly, into a childish fancy that it was fate the man in red leather caught his eyes. He was refreshing, a conversation built on stilted words and playful banter. They couldn’t have spent more than fifteen minutes together, but, Lotor had come to like him. A man who wore his heart on his sleeve was easier to be with, easier to guard against. 

 

_From falling._

 

Keith, he later found, was a model for one of his father’s new investments. A happy shock, it was, to see that outlandish mullet step on the stage. Another side to an ever refreshing character. The young man walked across in stiletto heels, graceful, dominant, and with purpose. He moved like he was teasing a pack wolves with fresh meat that belonged to him and him only. Yet to the onlooker, Keith’s gaze was askance, unfocused from the audience before him. Those murky blue-grey eyes trailed their way to Lotor, as if magnetized, wanting, _challenging_ , before moving away. The man pivoted, and swung himself in the other direction, leaving Lotor and his audience speechless. 

And suddenly seeing Keith again was no longer a happy shock. 

An interest in Lotor, first and foremost, always bred suspicion.

 

* * *

 

“Will you be attending the next Gala, Mr. Keith?” Lotor said, sliding himself in front of the model and separating him from the noisy mob.

An unsteady smile on his lips, “Are you asking me out, sir?” 

“I’m merely ensuring our most valuable employee attends.”

The man eyes widened briefly, as if unsure of the attention, but quickly refocused. “That would be Takashi. Not me,” He huffed out, arms folding across his chest.  
Lotor felt the smirk forming on his face, “But it’s not Takashi I’m interested in.” He pauses to let the sentence ring in the air. “Attend the next gala with me.”

Keith glared at him harder while something seemed to roll in his mind. ”You’ll be paying for my suit.”

“But of course.” 

 

_You whisper close in my ear_  
_Telling me to jump_  
_To step off_  
_To move_

 

Keith was a petulant escort, preferring to make small comments about the partygoers than speak much about himself. And as the fifth lady had come and danced their turn with Lotor, Keith’s snide mouth resumed, “There are an awful lot of ladies here to see you.”

He pulled Keith from his seat. “Jealous?” 

“Bored, actually, seeing all those girls whisk you away. I thought I was your escort,” 

Lotor clicked his tongue as Keith rose slowly, “My father merely wishes for me to marry soon.”

“And do you?”

“No.” 

“Then dance with me,” said the shorter man, reaching to take Lotor’s hand into his own,

They felt so small compared to Lotor’s. And as Lotor positioned his hand on Keith’s waist and firmly grasped on to Keith’s with his other, he felt the calloused fingertips and wondered how Keith could have gotten him. 

“Why must you be lead?”

“Because I’m taller” 

They moved with the music, “But perhaps I’m waiting for the right woman” Lotor whispered.

With a jerk, Keith swung Lotor around with force, “Or maybe you’ve been looking at the wrong gender.”

‘Maybe I’ve been looking at …’, Lotor doesn’t finish that thought.

 

* * *

 

“Keith! I wasn’t expecting you here.”

As they danced they crashed into the Altean Princess and her ambassador.

“You know Princess Allura?” Lotor asked as he finally pulled Keith away from his apparent acquaintance. The man managed to look abashed. 

“I uh… I happened to be in the same orphanage as her before their majesties from Altea found her.” 

“Fascinating,” 

No. It wasn’t fascinating at all, and Lotor swung Keith around and around till he got over that tiny mishap. The tidbit about the princess recognizing his escort, however, was tucked away neatly. 

 

_“You want to leave this_  
_Wretched cage, don’t you!?_  
_This gilded prison”_

 

“Shiro listen to me. Galra Corp’s recent activity shows that we need to act soon…” There’s a pause as Keith listened to the other person on the line, presumably Shiro.

“No you’re not....”

Another pause. 

“Fine.” 

Lotor watched as Keith roughly stuffed his phone into his pocket, fuming. And as the younger man took a moment to himself, murmuring a few voiceless words, Lotor struck. 

He pinned Keith against the wall behind him, elbow pressing against his neck. “Who are you?” 

Lotor had, given the chance, contemplated how much of Keith was a lie. He had imagined how dangerous he was: a pesky parasite, or a secret spy. Someone sent from the outside who was out to get him, like so many before. Acxa had pointed that it might’ve been unhealthy paranoia, but, paranoia meant survival.

He stared into those murky blue-grey eyes again, watching as they flickered from shock to anger to feigned disinterest. Those weren’t the eyes of someone wrongly caught. 

Keith’s lips curl into a smile, “I’m only here to babysit you for the night”

Words, Lotor recalled, were not Keith’s forte. They had a biting aftertaste like the taste of Motrin being swallowed, “Somehow. I’ve come to believe you’re something more,”

Keith raised an eyebrow, “Care to share with the class?” 

Lotor paused, soaking in the predicament that he had tangled himself into. Fact 1: he didn’t know the full account and had acted on impulse more than anything. Fact 2: there was a chance Keith was just a model. A small one that made Lotor’s skin crawl and his heart beat anxiously, but that chance remained. He wondered if Keith knew that. 

“That’s something I’m trying to figure out. You know the princess of Altea—“

“That’s —"

“Shh,” Lotor leaned into Keith’s ear. “I’m afraid I’ll need you to babysit me a little longer.” 

Whatever Keith was, he wouldn’t be able to act as freely under Lotor’s radar. (Unfortunately, this meant that Lotor would have to deal with extra paper work later.)

 

_Should I leave?_

_But should I fall?_

 

“Do you ever get tired of all these vapid people?” Keith had asked.

 

_My mind tells me_  
_And it warns_  
_And it hisses_

 

“I do. It’s like a cage. All these people, pretending to like me and my father. I’m like a puppet hanging by a hundred strings. Each movement, perfectly orchestrated by unnamed puppeteers, telling me to move this way and that. And really, that’s what they all are, puppets.”

“I’m assuming you like your father at least,” Keith huffed.

 

_Don’t go don’t go don’t go_

 

“No. I want to see him fall.” And quickly Lotor slid his mask back on. “But I believe my greed has gotten ahead of me. It’s normal for any son to want to supersede his predecessor.“

 

_You’re spilling poison_  
_Into my ears_  
_You’re craving my doom_  
_I know_

 

It’s by chance that Lotor found himself in front of the slightly opened door. From the crevice, he could see that the room was dark with only the unseen monitors for light. And if Lotor had been a lesser man, he would have assumed the room was empty, with only the whir of machines groaning behind the door keeping him company. 

Keith had excused himself to the bathroom. He proclaimed that he “needed a tiny break from the party” and Lotor had let him. It was very likely that Keith would be behind this door. It wasn’t a question whether or not Lotor would open the door. He had to. Something like sadness bubbled inside him. Not betrayal, though. More like remorse that Keith hadn’t taken his warning to heart.

An interest in Lotor, first and foremost, always bred suspicion. 

Too soon, he found a stiletto heel to his throat. It’s sharp enough that Lotor felt more than saw the blade hover too close to his skin. He never realized how agile Keith was nor how long and smooth his legs were. How skilled Keith must’ve been, to keep his foot firmly beside Lotor’s neck, without wavering, without swaying. It was terrifying. 

With confidence he doesn’t have, he stares back into those gleaming eyes, “Push it a little further,” the words slipped from his tongue, “I could have you fired you know. Or worse, jailed.” 

He wondered if Keith was always so fast. Hoping he had judged Keith’s character correctly, he closed his eyes preparing to die (nonetheless). It’d be quick. 

“What do you want, Lotor?”

“To visit that orphanage you spoke so much about.”

“Fine,” the man bristled and lowered his leg ungracefully, making sure it grazed across Lotor’s front chest. The cut a few inches from his heart.

Keith didn’t hand Lotor the USB nor did Lotor ask for it. That wasn’t what he was after. And Lotor wasn’t stupid enough to let anything precious lying around in the main control room. 

 

_I’m two steps_  
_Two steps_  
_From falling_

_Deep_  
_Down_  
_Under_

 

Keith wouldn’t let him too close to the building. They watched from afar as tiny children played in the poorer part of town; all of them children of families who were displaced by Galra Corp, which explained the vendetta. Keith explained that he and his coworker, Takashi, had grown up there and do their part to keep the institute alive. (That’s where he had met Allura). 

“I wouldn’t betray you,” Lotor said in response.

Keith retaliated with a punch to Lotor’s gut, “Like hell I’d believe that.”

 

_Yet I hold my breath_  
_And I imagine you_  
_In your bright red leather_  
_And your mop of black_  
_Telling me its fine_  
_To jump_

 

“Have you heard of heavy water, Mr. Keith?”

“Heavy water?”

“D2O. It’s the kind of liquid used in nuclear reactors. You could feed someone a glass and they wouldn’t tell the difference. But, if you consistently fed them with heavy water and only heavy water, they would die. It’d be traceless, seemingly the perfect weapon.”

“You trying to poison me, Lotor?”

“No. Heavy water is too expensive and it would require a long time for the target to die.” 

 

_Dont go dont go dont go_

_It’s almost_  
_It feels real_  
_I want it to be real_  
_But that’s not_  
_That’s not_

 

His proposal to marry his bodyguard had greatly displeased his father. However, Lotor no longer cared for his father’s opinions. 

“I’d rather have a woman I can trust, than a princess who’d sooner pour poison down my throat.”

 

_You’re spilling poison_  
_Into my ears_

_My eyes open,_  
_And you’re gone_  
_Gone with your murky blue_  
_Gone with your calloused fingers_  
_And too tall heels_  
_Gone_

 

“You’ve been lying to me.”

“No fucking kidding,” Keith snarled at him. 

“This wasn’t what we agreed.” 

“Stop acting like you haven’t! Listen, we both know I’m not the only one keeping secrets.” 

Lotor stood there speechless as he watched Keith storm off. Gone. 

 

_Again_  
_And I’m not there._

_I’m two steps_  
_Two steps_  
_From falling_

_Deep_  
_Down_  
_Under_

 

“Why do you stay if this company is killing you from the inside out?” Keith asked, one night, while they had spent an hour too long together. 

“I don’t know anything else.”

 

_I know this old feeling_  
_Like a pair of well worn shoes_  
_And I know that I could slip it on_  
_Again and_  
_Again_

 

“Maybe you could try something else.” 

And somewhere in his eyes, Lotor could see that Keith doesn’t care. Those murky blue-grey eyes moved closer and closer, swallowing him whole. His tie was tugged down and suddenly he felt Keith's lips crushed against his. 

A childish fancy replayed in his mind’s eye and Lotor froze. He counted his moments up until this one and yanked Keith off him. 

(What the fuck was that for!)

“We can’t.” He stared at Keith wide eyed, “ _I_ can’t”

“You said we wanted the same things!”

“No. What I want is to see my father fail. What you want is to see his empire fall.” 

And Lotor left Keith and the childish fancy there to fade with time.

 

_But you’re craving my doom_  
_I know_  
_You know_

 

“What is the meaning of this!” Keith shouted, fist clenching around a pink slip Lotor had his secretary leave in Keith’s mailbox. 

“You’re being transferred to an outer branch.” Lotor responded, slowly unburying himself from his work, “I’m no longer in need of an escort, Keith.”

“You know I wouldn’t betray you,” the shorter man gritted through his teeth.

“I know.” Lotor sighed, “I’m simply waking up and realizing what I was always meant to be.” 

If Lotor had paid more attention he would’ve heard Keith screaming as he slammed the door shut. He would’ve heard Keith cursing him and kicking at his wall, but Lotor hadn’t. He resigned himself to calling a carpenter to replace the wallpaper. 

 

 _To love and be lost_  
_To hold you_  
_As mine_  
_To be held_  
_As yours_

 

He watched, from afar, as Keith and his beloved coworker, Takashi, grew close to each other. When Lotor transitioned to inherit a business he never wanted, he made sure to squash unnecessary ventures, including that model agency. 

 

 _But why?_

_Why?_

 

Acxa followed him as they left his father’s office, “Sir, what I don’t understand is why choose me.”

He turned to glance at her, examining the way her hair was pinned too tightly in a bun, the way she stood resolute, none of those enhanced her boring features. She was simple and loyal; nothing like Keith. Lotor harbored some form of fondness for her, a consequence of growing up together. But, he doesn’t care for her. “I’m not afraid of you dying.” 

He will not be crushed if she were to fall. 

Axca’s blue-blue eyes darkened slightly; she knew the double meaning laced in his words. She stood taller, staring at him with probably more passion than she’d known “Then, I will not,” and added “Lotor.” 

 

_Two steps_  
_two steps_

 

Happiness seemed almost obtainable. With Acxa at his side, he was able to breathe as he transformed Galra Corp under his vision. It was never what he wanted, but he could live suitably. After his father had died, Axca and he changed addresses. Away from all that could be. 

Lotor had visited the orphanage, once, before leaving. He had a check written up ready to deliver, when the lady had said the children been adopted. A man in red leather and stiletto heels had stolen them years before Lotor got the chance. Away from all that could be.

Happiness seemed almost mimicable.

 

_To fall_

 

But like an idiot, a stupid stupid idiot, Acxa had died in a car crash. Killed by a drunk driver late at night. Not some political gambit, not some poisoned drink. Cunning, intelligent Acxa died by accident. The stupid fool. 

 

_Deep_  
_Down_  
_Under_

 

By some miracle, Keith had found his address. In all those many years, Lotor didn’t expect to see him again. The quick break in the churning tides. The man with the outlandish hair and the stiletto sharp heels. He didn’t know what Keith was expecting, turning up after so long that even his mop of black was marred with streaks of white. Lotor didn’t even know what he was expecting. Opening his door to those same murky blue-grey eyes, Lotor’s heart stopped and his knees buckled. He watched slowly as the world turned with sudden gravity. Too real too real.

Keith caught him in his arms, like a knight in shining armor, and invariably stepped inside. Charming as always. A childish fantasy flashed before him. 

A joke. This was a joke. It had to be. 

But no humorless laugh fell from his lips and Keith remained silent as ever. Never a talker, he was. Instead, like a child again, Lotor’s eyes welled up and gross sobs tore from his throat. A child crying over its lost toy. Disgusting. But where was the strength for him to pretend. Anymore. He had nothing left. 

His hands gripped tightly onto Keith’s shirt willing him to stay after so many years apart. Keith patted his head softly, a mother taming a child. Yet in his arms, Lotor felt warm, safe. A false sense of safety, he was willing to be real. “Please stay,” he whispered, knowing the silence that would greet him.

Keith stiffened beside him, impassive and unmoving. If Lotor were any more foolish he would’ve believed the tight pause in Keith’s breath. It’s not real. It’s not real. He wondered if all too soon Keith would leave him here. A sobbing mess at his own front door. He’d be a ghost again, a face to play out in some wild fantasy and nothing more. 

The hand resumed to stroke his hair gently,  
"It's too late for an us." Keith stated. 

 

 _And too late_  
_I’m already_  
_Two steps two steps_  
_Too far._

 

“I know,” he whispers into Keith’s shirt. “I know.”

“But, I'm here if you need me."

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Ruka, 
> 
> You inspire me a great deal and your stories are absolutely amazing. You've cheered me on through a lot and I hope you enjoy this soft angst. >< ALSO ALSO IF I CAN HUG YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER I WOULD. 
> 
> Happy Birthday,
> 
> -love Jae <3


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